Nexus is not fully committing to AI, reserving 50% of its latest $700 million fund for startups in India

Nexus Venture Partners Launches $700 Million Fund with Dual Focus

At a time when many venture capital firms are concentrating almost exclusively on artificial intelligence, Nexus Venture Partners is intentionally dividing its attention for its latest $700 million fund.

The firm plans to invest in both AI-driven startups and Indian companies operating in sectors such as consumer services, fintech, and digital infrastructure.

Balancing AI Ambitions with Indian Market Opportunities

Although artificial intelligence continues to attract the majority of global venture capital, Nexus recognizes the risks of overcommitting to a single, highly competitive sector. The firm views India’s rapidly growing digital economy as a valuable counterweight, offering a broad spectrum of opportunities as AI adoption accelerates across the country.

This balanced strategy is deeply connected to Nexus’s roots. Headquartered in Delaware and maintaining offices in Menlo Park, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, Nexus has operated as a unified fund with a cross-border U.S.–India team since its inception in 2006.

The firm supports early-stage software ventures and Indian startups from a shared capital pool. Its investments in cross-border software have spanned infrastructure, developer tools, and AI agent companies. Notable U.S. portfolio companies include Postman, Apollo, MinIO, Giga, and Firecrawl, all of which have gained significant traction in developer tools and AI infrastructure.

In India, Nexus has expanded its portfolio to cover consumer businesses, fintech, logistics, and digital infrastructure, backing companies such as Zepto, Delhivery, Rapido, Turtlemint, and Infra.Market.

AI as a Transformative Force

“AI marks a pivotal moment, and we’re centering our efforts around it,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing partner at Nexus Venture Partners, in a conversation with TechCrunch. “At the same time, we’re witnessing AI innovations being leveraged to better serve large populations.”

Track Record and Investment Approach

With $3.2 billion under management and investments in over 130 companies, Nexus has achieved more than 30 successful exits, including several IPOs—demonstrating its commitment to early-stage, long-term investing.

Abhishek Sharma, another managing partner at Nexus, explained that the firm’s primary focus remains on inception, seed, and Series A rounds, often starting with investments as low as a few hundred thousand dollars to around $1 million.

Since its first $100 million fund, Nexus has maintained a fund size of $700 million since launching Fund VII in 2023, typically raising new funds every two and a half to three years. Bhattacharjee noted that keeping the fund at this size aligns with their early-stage investment strategy.

“We’re not interested in raising capital just for the sake of it,” he emphasized.

India’s AI Potential and Local Innovation

While India’s AI sector is not as mature as that of the U.S., Nexus believes the country has the potential to make significant advances in various areas of the AI landscape.

Bhattacharjee highlighted India’s vast pool of skilled professionals, expanding digital infrastructure, and the need for AI models tailored to the country’s diverse languages and service requirements. These factors are motivating Indian startups to develop AI solutions rapidly, often utilizing open-source platforms and emerging domestic AI infrastructure providers.

To illustrate AI’s growing influence in India, the partners cited Nexus-backed companies like Zepto and Neysa. Zepto, a quick-commerce platform, integrates AI throughout its operations—from customer service to logistics—showing how consumer businesses are becoming increasingly AI-driven. Meanwhile, infrastructure firms like Neysa are emerging to meet India-specific demands, such as sovereign AI workloads, localized data management, and support for the nation’s many languages.

Investor Base and Fund Performance

While Nexus did not disclose specific fund performance metrics, the partners indicated that strong returns over the years have enabled the firm to attract substantial reinvestment from existing limited partners. Nexus’s investor base spans the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Japan.